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Yet the consumer giant fails to make similar commitment for adults’ products

Thursday, July 5, 2018

We applaud Johnson & Johnson (J&J), the manufacturer of many personal care products, for its commitment yesterday to disclose fragrance ingredients in its baby products. Parents deserve to know what ingredients exist in the products they are applying to their babies’ bodies every day, because babies are especially vulnerable to chemical exposure from personal care products.

J&J said it intends to disclose 100 percent of the ingredients in its babycare products next month. The transparency effort will be rolled out as part of a relaunch of its babycare range on August 1, 2018.

However, J&J needs to do more. It is lagging behind its competitors Unilever and Procter & Gamble by failing to commit to disclose fragrance ingredients in adult products as well. J&J manufactures numerous adult brands such as Aveeno, Clean & Clear and Neutrogena.

The ingredient “fragrance” or “parfum” refers to a mixture of scent chemicals and ingredients that companies are not required to disclose. Approximately 3,000 chemicals, some of which have been linked to cancer, reproductive and respiratory problems, and allergies, can be used to make fragrance.

This change in company policy is another clear sign that the cosmetics industry is listening to the public, and it’s about time. Another major company, L’Oreal, also recently announced it will disclose fragrance ingredients. Policymakers need to take note and mandate fragrance disclosure for all consumer products.